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October Shows 18% Industry Growth, Software Sales Up 35%

Yesterday, we brought you the NPD statistics for the month of October, and although PlayStation 3 sales were down, the overall result is encouraging for the industry as a whole.

Earlier in the week, Wedbush Morgan Securities analyst Michael Pachter spoke about the video game industry vs. signs of a recession in the country, and concluded that if October hardware sales and overall profit were up, the "cocooning effect" was accurate. As it turns out, their projection of an 18% growth was spot-on; the NPD data confirms that at least in the U.S., the games industry grew 18% in October in a year-over-year comparison. The overall number rose from $1.12 billion to $1.31 billion, and as NPD analyst Anita Frazier said, the industry is still on pace to top $22 billion "in annual sales in 2008." For more info, she added-

"The sales results are mixed this month, however. The console portion of the market made significant gains at 26 percent across hardware, software and accessories, while the portable side of the market stalled, declining 14 percent. Year-to-date the portable segment of the market is still up 7 percent."

As Pachter said, hardware sales are crucial, and they were up 5% to $494.74 million while software sales climbed a significant 35% to $696.79 million. The only downside to the month was the sale of peripherals, which fell 8% in year-over-year comparisons, down to $120.19 million. So essentially, the industry doesn't seem to be feeling any negative economic effects; at least, not yet. For now, the same philosophy applies: put out the good games - October was full of 'em - and people will buy.